New “Super-Willys” in Stockholm - store to open at Heron City, Kungens kurva

The Willys discount chain continues its growth in the Greater Stockholm area with the opening this autumn of a new 5,000 sq.m. “Super-Willys” store at Heron City, Kungens kurva. The store will be the second of its kind in Stockholm following the opening of the first store last year in Rissne. Super-Willys features an extended range of specialty products such as household goods, media products, textiles and toys. Willys’ business concept, to offer Sweden’s lowest grocery prices, characterizes the price position for these new product categories as well.

The trend in the retail food market is moving toward one-stop shopping. Super-Willys is an effort to meet this demand in the discount segment. By creating access to attractively priced products in the areas of media, household goods, textiles, toys and elsewhere, Willys aims to create a practical and convenient discount store where shoppers can find just about any household item. Willys plans to open 15 Super-Willys in the coming three years. “Super-Willys is the start of a natural development of an already successful store concept,” says Anders Strålman, President of Willys AB. The new store will be located at Heron City, Kungens kurva, and will open in autumn 2005. “The Heron City location offers a number of advantages,” adds Strålman. “The area is slated as a future regional hub, and the store is situated well in terms of traffic.” Willys is today Sweden’s largest discount food chain, with a wide range of products and a special focus on fresh products such as fruits and vegetables, meats, and dairy products. The stores have an offering of some 7,500 items, covering 95% of consumers’ annual food purchases. Willys offers Sweden’s lowest grocery prices. The main factor behind the low prices is that the stores are run highly efficiently with low overhead. This efficiency is achieved, among other things, through purchases of large volumes by a central purchasing organization. Willys’ goal is to increase the number of stores in Stockholm. Today Willys has 14 stores in the Greater Stockholm area, and the chain has 91 stores in all. One target is to have 100 wholly owned stores by 2005. Axfood also has 45 Willys hemma stores, which is a chain of small discount stores. For further information, please contact: Anders Strålman, President, Willys AB, tel. +46-708-37 88 37 Kenneth Wall, Press Manager, Axfood AB, tel. +46-703-124 122 Additional information: www.axfood.se and www.willys.se